When manufacturing various types of garments, it is the usual practice to attach an ironed-in stiffening insert, usually referred to as an interlining, to the body or base fabric of certain parts of the garment, such as suit, shirt or blouse shoulders, fronts, collars and cuffs. The interlining is normally adhered or fused to the base fabric by a bonding of thermoactive adhesive material applied to one side of the interlining fabric, as by coating, or by printing in spaced deposits or dot patterns. The interlining fabric is then placed adjacent the base fabric with the dot patterns of thermoactive adhesive material in contact with the base fabric and subjected to an ironing or pressing operation so that the thermoactive adhesive material softens and adheres or fuses the interlining fabric to the base fabric.
It is known to produce these interlining fabrics of nonwoven material, knit material, or woven material. The nonwoven interlining fabrics have good cover but do not have the resiliency, drape and the strength properties normally found in knitted and woven interlining fabrics. However, the nonwoven interlining fabrics are sometimes preferred because they have a smooth surface, making it convenient for applying the fusible coating thereto. In many instances, the woven and knitted interlining fabrics are not suitable because they do not have the cover provided by the nonwoven fabrics. While the woven and knitted fabrics have the resiliency and strength, they do not provide the smoothness of surface which is typical of the nonwoven fabrics. Also, the woven and knitted interlining fabrics can present "strike back" problems. Strike back is the tendency of the fusible coating material to flow through the interlining fabric and to the opposite side of the interlining fabric to which the fusible coating material is applied. Such strike back of the thermoactive adhesive material can result in an undesirable bonding between the the lining of the garment and the interlining upon the application of heat and pressure. When the lining of the garment is adhered to the interlining, this effects the drape, feel and appearance of the garment as the garment is designed to have the interlining fabric adhere only to the outer or base fabric of the garment and not to the lining.